Forestay tension?

[ozskipper]

Its only the rig, dont even bother talking to a rigger Lol. ( poor attempt at humour). Its worth getting a rigger to check these things if you're unsure. Although sag is generally somewhat normal on any furler. Which is one of the reasons racers dont use them (faster sail changes is another). I notice some mentioned that a loose furler is hard to furl. The same can occur with an overtightened furler. Is it a fractional rig or masthead?

[cburger]

I just restepped my mast after replacing all the standing rigging. I used a simple Davis rigging tuner to adjust the tension of the wire. Even as a cruising sailor the performance and longevity of the rig were far to important to me to rely on "Old salts" giving me opinions or attempting to tune a rig by the feel of the wire in my hand. The instructions included with the tool speak to some important points:

A.) The number one reason for premature wearing out or rig failure is improperly tensioned wire, ie way to loose. This creates cyclic loading of the wire, fittings, attachment points and mast, (Not good). Leeward side shrouds should not be slack when sailing.

B.) A properly tuned rig contributes to sailing performance, especially to windward, loose headstays deminish performance.

C.) The baseline tension as reccommended is 1500lbs tension for the headstay and 1000lbs for the rest of the rigging.

I had performed the initial tuning by hand and feel and eye and had basicly set the reccommended rake and centering of the mast this way. When I put the tuner on the wire, boy was I suprised, I was not even close to the suggested baseline settings of the instructions, way loose. Once I got the hang of this simple tuning tool it was a real snap and pleasure to get the wire set up
correctly, with the result that the boat is sailing beautifully and more importantly safely.

Top notch racer's employ professional rig tuners utilizing very expensive tools to optimize their boats ability. The little Davis tool cost about $100.00, a small price to pay considering all the mony I have "sunk" into the boat. THe final tune of the rig only took about an hour the first time. I will periodiclly put the gauge on the wire and retune the rig to assure all is well.

[lancelot9898]

I also have a roller furler on the headstay and it seems unlikely that I can put a gage on it to measure tension. It's a masthead rig and apparently by measureing the backstay tension will give an indication of that in the headstay. Not really sure if that will give an accurate reading considering that my mast is pretty substantial.

Also Selden has a method where an accurate measurement of tension is possible without the use of gages. Still wasn't able to adapt that method to the headstay with furler.

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by ozskipper

Its only the rig, dont even bother talking to a rigger Lol. ( poor attempt at humour). Its worth getting a rigger to check these things if you're unsure.

Absolutely. Once done you can take tension setting with your loos gauge and measurements yourself and write the, down, so you can then reset your rig to base settings...

In terms of prepping for your rigger...

...if you square your rigg as I suggested in my earlier post you will save the rigger time and yourself money

[Kenomac]

Have a professional rigger look at it. It shouldn't cost much; we paid a high end shipyard $95 to tighten and adjust our entire rig. It's better to be safe than sorry.

[DumnMad]

[QUOTE=foolishsailor;1044163]You dont really tune your rig by using the tension of the forestay, you do so by adjusting the tension of your shrouds. Obviously the forestay tension increase as well but forestay length is used to control the rake of the mast.

Detailed rigging tension is usually specific to a given mast manufacturer and sail designer.

A good ballpark method:
..........

...........
When you are adding tension to the lowers and mids make sure you put the side of your face on the mast looking up sail track on the aft side with all lines out of the way - this will tell you very accurately if the mast is bending in the middle while you are tensioning.


Such a huge topic but hope that helps...

Thanks FoolishSailor - Informative post. Now I understand the different tensions on mine.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Have a professional rigger look at it. It shouldn't cost much; we paid a high end shipyard $95 to tighten and adjust our entire rig. It's better to be safe than sorry.

So for the $95 did they take the boat out sailing?? Its not possible to correctly tune a rig at the dock--you sight up the mast one one tack, then tack the boat and adjust the leeward shrouds--multiple times. Discontinuous rigging takes more time, as you have to go up the mast to adjust things.

[foolishsailor]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

So for the $95 did they take the boat out sailing?? Its not possible to correctly tune a rig at the dock--you sight up the mast one one tack, then tack the boat and adjust the leeward shrouds--multiple times. Discontinuous rigging takes more time, as you have to go up the mast to adjust things.

As Don said to get a fully tuned rig one has to see the sail paln under power however You can get a very good baseline tune without leaving the dock if you are using a good rigger, especially for a cruiser versus a racer. For the price you mention a good rigger can get you properly sorted.